The irony in environmental news

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“The Moorside [nuclear] Power plant is slated to be completed in Cumbria’s rural landscape in 2024. A creative design competition, sponsored by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Landscape Institute, called on designers to submit creative landscape proposals for the project. … The cherry on top of [one top five] design is clearly the massive man-made rainbow that would arch over the landscape. Two large glass prismatic towers would be placed on opposite sides of the project and would use light and mist to create a continual rainbow, … ‘helping the power station blend in with the stunning scenery in the region, whilst providing a place for people to visit and learn about NuGen’s advancement of safe nuclear science and power.'” http://inhabitat.com/upcoming-nuclear-power-plant-in-the-uk-may-shoot-giant-rainbows-into-the-sky/

The plant is expected to become a top destination for tourists, who can look forward to being guided around the showcase site by a unicorn with liberal sprinkles of magic dust.

“Westinghouse and its parent Toshiba are in crisis because of massive cost overruns building four ‘AP1000’ nuclear power reactors in the southern US states of Georgia and South Carolina. … Toshiba says Westinghouse had debts totalling US$9.8 billion. …
Westinghouse is the major member of the Nugen consortium that’s set to build a massive three-reactor AP1000 nuclear complex at Moorside in the UK, next to the Sellafield site. The company has already stated that while it intends to progress the project through planning stages, it is unable to take on financing or construction and intends to sell its share.
Nugen’s other member, the French energy company Engie (formerly GDF Suez) has also gone on record as wanting to extricate itself from the Moorside project in favour of the ‘new energy’ economy based on renewable, storage and smart grid technologies. …
The UK’s Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) today – with impeccable timing – accepted the AP1000 design as “suitable for construction in the UK” and issued Westinghouse a Design Acceptance Certificate.” http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2988820/toshibas_nuclear_flagship_goes_bust_after_10_billion_losses.html

The UK government still hopes to save the nuclear industry by unveiling miracle cutting edge technology that uses radioactive heavy ironium.

“Earth Hour was first unveiled by an Australian ad agency in 2007, when global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide had reached 385 parts per million, their highest level in some four million years. Since then, CO2 levels have broken through the symbolic 400ppm barrier and continue to rise sharply.
The impact has been stark. Eight of the 10 hottest years ever recorded have all occurred since 2007. Last year smashed all previous records, pushing Earth systems into what the World Meteorological Organisation this week called ‘truly uncharted territory’.
If homo sapiens really has the wit and ambition to survive this century, from here on every hour has to be Earth Hour.” https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/lights-out-at-earth-hour-don-t-waste-your-energy-1.3022129

Blogging on battery power seems a decent analogy for stealing resources from our future selves.

“An independent report … for the government stated smart meters would not be cost effective as they would bring a £4 billion net present value cost – the civil service, in contrast, inflated this figure by £8 billion, claiming there would be a £4 billion net present value benefit instead. … How will the shoddy testing impact on our health and our privacy as well as our wallets? Who will be liable – landlords, energy companies or taxpayers when it all goes wrong?” (http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2983240/stop_the_11_billion_smart_meter_ripoff.html; emphasis added)

Create an electronic system that costs more to install and run than it saves, falsely inflates bills, collects unnecessary personal data about households, and emits unhealthy levels of radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation in homes. Label it ‘smart’. Job’s a good ‘un.

Plus, in the case of Scottish & Southern Energy / Scottish Hydro Electric, issue identical advertising letters and leaflets to customers three times in one month to overwhelm any concern about unnecessary costs.